A Vietnam veteran who lost his life after stepping in to help a woman being attacked by her ex-partner will be honoured with a posthumous medal.

The Royal Humane Society of Australasia will award 16 Queenslanders on Friday including Norman Olsen, who died following his Good Samaritan act in Toowoomba two years ago.

The 65-year-old had pulled his car over to help the woman in February 2016, as she lay on the ground clutching her young daughter.

He grabbed the arm of her attacker, James Darren Callow, allowing the woman to run away but was punched and later died in hospital.

"Sorry, but you shouldn't have butted in," Callow was heard to say after the attack.

During Callow's manslaughter sentence 11 months ago, Justice Peter Applegarth praised Mr Olsen's "heroic intervention" and said his attempts to stop Callow were reasonable and admirable.

The is the second award given to Mr Olsen posthumously after he was awarded a Bravery Medal from the governor-general in March.

Others to be awarded on Friday include three police officers who saved numerous people from a motel fire in Airlie Beach in 2015.